Poland - Factors to Watch Aug 22

Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland’s financial markets on Tuesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 2 hours):

PLAY COMMUNICATIONS

Play Communications, the owner of Poland’s second biggest mobile network operator Play, posted a 67 percent fall in net profit in the first half of the year hurt by higher expenses.

INVESTMENT

The statistics office will publish at 1200 GMT financial results of medium and large non-financial firms for the second half of the year. The results will show how much these firms spent on investment.

COAL

Poland’s biggest coal mining firm PGG has stopped selling the worst-quality coal to private consumers as a result of new regulations designed to improve air quality in some of Poland’s most polluted regions, gazeta Wyborcza daily said.

EUROCASH

Polish retail and wholesale group Eurocash said on Tuesday it signed a letter of intent to buy its smaller rival Mila.

PENSION OVERHAUL

Economy Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Labour Minister Elzbieta Rafalska have reached agreement regarding the shape of the pension overhaul which will consist of shifting 25 percent of funds from state-guaranteed pension funds to a demographic reserve fund while the rest will be transferred to individual pension accounts, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily reported citing unnamed sources.

The overhaul could come into force in the middle of 2018 or in 2019, the daily said.

ELECTRIC CARS

If Poland decides to use Chinese technology to build its first nuclear power plant, Chinese company Jiangxi Special Electric Motor could build a factory of electric cars in Poland as part of an offset agreement, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily reported citing unnamed sources.

****Reuters has not verified stories reported by Polish media and does not vouch for their accuracy.****